Rand Paul
On Saturday, the Kentucky Republican Party granted Sen. Rand Paul his wish when they voted to switch from a May presidential primary to a March caucus, giving Paul the ability to both run for re-election and for president. (Kentucky law prohibits a candidate from seeking multiple offices on the same ballot.) However, the
Lexington Herald-Leader's Sam Youngman tells us that the state central committee
came extremely close to rejecting their junior senator.
Committee members were not at all persuaded by Paul's promise to transfer $250,000 to the party to pay for the caucus, especially since Paul initially said he'd already sent them the money. Paul has also never had a good relationship with his party's establishment, and they just didn't trust him to transfer the money as he promised he would. Had the GOP voted to maintain the primary, Youngman says that Paul planned to run for re-election in Kentucky and for president in every other state.
However, Paul's Senate colleague Mitch McConnell saved Paul from humiliation at literally the eleventh hour. A top McConnell aide and former RNC Chair Mike Duncan successfully pitched a compromise to the committee: There would be a caucus, but only if Paul transferred the $250,000 by Sept. 18. While Paul has never been a loyal vote for McConnell in the Senate, the two are allies back home. Paul quickly got behind McConnell's 2014 re-election campaign and helped McConnell reach out to angry conservatives who might have otherwise have voted for Matt Bevin in the primary. On Saturday, it was McConnell's turn to come to his colleague's aid during his time of need.
But the Kentucky GOP isn't still one big happy family. On Friday, Paul endorsed Bevin's gubernatorial bid, but Bevin declined to back Paul's presidential campaign in return. Bevin claims that it has nothing to do with Paul's role in last year's Senate primary, but it's hard to believe he didn't get at least a little bit of satisfaction from spurning Paul.